What you see in Cory Luebke and Joe Wieland, beyond the promise inherent in their arms, is eagerness inherent in their situations.

Luebke and Wieland are living together, rehabbing together and trying to stay patient together as their fall and winter of idleness transition into their spring of stirring and anticipation.

There will be no games for a while, not even throws off a mound.

“It’s going to be like a tease,” Wieland said. “It’s like, here is everything dangling in front of you, but you can’t have it.”

This is saying a lot, because in all of sports there may be no sensation that rivals the rejuvenation that spring brings to everyone in baseball, but these two guys who won’t even be able to participate in the good stuff are stoked as anyone to get to Arizona this week.

“I don’t think I’ve been so excited to get to spring training in a while,” Luebke said. “... I’m just looking forward to seeing the guys again and feeling part of the team again.”

They’ve been throwing at slowly increasing distances for a few months – Luebke for longer and now farther than Wieland, because his elbow got reconstructed two months earlier, the end of May versus the end of July.

The next time we see Wieland pitching for the Padres will almost certainly be 2014, but he should get some minor-league innings late this summer.

The thinking is Luebke could be back pitching in the majors in early June, an expected boon for a starting rotation that is a little light going into spring training and last year featured an astonishing 15 different guys taking the mound at the beginning of games.

Luebke and Wieland both tried to rest and work through their injuries last year before submitting to Tommy John surgery. It was excruciating to, first, watch their team struggle in the first half of 2012 and then, in a different vein, watch a second-half surge.

“There were a lot of couldas and maybes,” said Luebke, who was 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA in his five starts last season. “It will be nice to see if we can stay healthy. The way we played the second half last year is exciting.”

Said Wieland: “Looking to this season, it’s very promising. We’re going to have a bright future. We have a lot of young guys on this team.”

Wieland, who got the loss in four of his five starts in his rookie season, is one of them. By the time he gets back on a major-league mound, he will have just turned 24.

Still, that’s a long time.

Said Luebke: “I feel bad for Joe, missing two seasons.”

Missing a portion of one season was tough enough for players who had never been hurt before.

Compounding their feeling of helplessness was the feeling of loneliness that accompanies every extended injury.

Rehab is a solitary exercise, a series of disconnected days absent of competition and camaraderie. Professional athletes talk about it with a somberness otherwise reserved for discussion of death.